Devils Lose to Canadiens - in 20 Seconds..
The New Jersey Devils lost 1-3 to the Canadiens, in
Montreal on Saturday, October 13, 2001.Scott Niedermayer was in the lineup tonight after missing
the first two games with a sore back. Pierre Dagenais is also
back in the lineup because Jim McKenzie is a healthy scratch.
Sascha Goc was sent back to Albany and Mike Commodore was recalled
(though a healthy scratch).Sergei Brylin beat Jeff Hackett with a nice wrist shot
at 2:19 to give the Devils an early 1-0 lead. Pierre Dagenais
and Scott Gomez got assists on the goal.
The Devils put good pressure on the Canadiens for the
first 16 minutes or so of the game, just barely missing on some good
scoring chances. The Canadiens had some decent chances towards
the end of the period, but the Devils were able to stop them.
The first period ended with the Devils leading 1-0.
The Devils also outshot the Canadiens 12-7.
Montreal began the second period with a bit more fire
than they had in the first.. And they were able to put a lot
more pressure on the Devils throughout the period. Though neither
team managed to score a goal in the second, the Canadiens had many good
opportunities.
The second period ended with the Devils still leading 1-0.
*nbsp; The Canadiens outshot the Devils 11-3 in the period.
Just 20 seconds is all it took to turn the Devils one goal
lead into a one goal deficit. Martin Rucinsky scored for Montreal
just 2:03 into the third period. Then Yanic Perreault put one
past Brodeur at 2:23 - 20 seconds later. Both goals were scored
when the Devils gave up 2 on 1 odd man rushes.
Larry Robinson took his teams' only timeout after the
second goal to try to settle things down. The game was quick-paced
after the timeout. With about 7 minutes to go in the period, the
Devils picked up the pressure. They had some good opportunities,
and a Scott Stevens shot rang off the post (though deflected in
front).
The Devils were unable to put the puck past Hackett though,
and unfortunately gave up an empty net goal. Andreas Dackell
got the insurance goal at 19:45.
The shots were even in the third period, each team with
nine. New Jersey was 0 for 2 on the power play; Montreal went
0 for 3.
This is the first time in the Devils history that they
have began a season with three straight losses. The Canadiens
are now undefeated (4-0-1-0) in their first five starts.